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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 3, 2013Jim LeylandOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jim Leyland. Q. Jim, when it comes to Miguel and the decision whether or not to play him, this is not a determination made solely between you and Cabrera, I understand that Kevin Rand, the training staff is involved, I think doctors are regularly consulted and I think Dave Dombrowski is involved. Can you sort that out? JIM LEYLAND: There is nothing to sort out, I don't think. He's playable, he's not 100%, obviously the medical people feel that he's not going to do anything to endanger his future and he wants to play. He's handicapped a little bit, obviously, although I think he is better. Probably the last few days have helped him out a little bit. He's still not going to be running at full speed and probably be a situation where the 8th inning and after, would run for him, probably not before. Q. Again, though, this is not, as I understand it a determination that's made solely between you and Cabrera. JIM LEYLAND: Well, no, we don't. If our medical people advise us not to play a player, we don't play them. The whole organization is involved in this, but obviously we've been playing him and he has been injured, believe me, I don't think people know how sore he has been. We don't go above the medical people, we're not bigger than that. We talk to Miguel, he gets his treatment, we talk to the doctors and he's playable. So you've just got to be willing to live with the fact that he's not going to run very well and that pretty much sums it up. Q. Jim, have you made a final determination on the roster for the series? JIM LEYLAND: We have. Q. And can you say whether Peralta would be on it? JIM LEYLAND: Matt Tuiasosopo is not on, Jhonny Peralta is on, Alvarez is on and Perez is on. Q. As a quick follow‑up, with the way the A's rotation lines up, how do you anticipate using Peralta as the series goes? JIM LEYLAND: I'm just going to use some statistical analysis, some gut feeling, a combination of those things. Andy Dirks will start in left field tomorrow night. We'll play it by ear and each game. Basically what you do is, like every other manager, you put out the lineup that gives you the best chance to win that particular game. So I will play Andy Dirks tomorrow night. Q. Jim, you praised the crowd last year and what that did for the A's. What do you make of them adding 12,000 seats for this series and some of the problems this ballpark has had this year? Does that add to the whole thing? JIM LEYLAND: Number one, let me say this about the A's. Number one, I'm really impressed, I was impressed with them last year, even more impressed with them this year for the simple reason that they snuck up on Texas and they took it at the end. It was a wonderful, wonderful story. This year they had to live with some expectations just as we did and they met those expectations. They should be very proud of what they've accomplished. I think it's quite an accomplishment. They were in there with Texas and the Angels, who are a very good team, just happened to have a down year. Really impressed with them. The seating, I guess that means it's just a little bit louder. This is obviously a very loud, energetic stadium. And the only thing you do when you come to a place like this is you try to live on that energy, that the opposing teams fan's provide, thrive on it, live on it. Enjoy it! I love it at Detroit. We see the white towels or whatever they are. I like it when the Oakland A's are waiving the yellow towels and the fans are screaming. The acoustics are a little tough, they're a little loud. I like bars with music, but this is a little bit loud. So it does get in the ear drums. Thank God I don't hear that well. But it's a great atmosphere, it really is and there is no question about it. They're into it. They should be. They're proud of their team, they're here for the playoffs. I enjoy this experience and that's what you ask your players to do, thrive on it. Q. Why does the platoon system work so well for them? JIM LEYLAND: What? Q. The platoon system, why do we not see it more? JIM LEYLAND: Nobody knows their players better than Bob Melvin, and I'm not here to comment on what they do strategically because that's none of my business. But nobody knows them better than Bob. They have some nice pieces. And you look back to the days of Lowenstein and Roenicke and where managers did things that they thought gave their team the best chance to win. I think that's what Melvin does. He plays to their strength and that's it. Q. How has Torii Hunter impacted your team as far as their emotional state? JIM LEYLAND: He's hit real good and played real good in the outfield, and anything we got from him has been a bonus. I've been on the record saying he's one of the toughest guys I've ever managed. He has a nice attitude and most of all, he's hit in the 2‑hole well. And I like the stuff that he does when the umpire says "play ball," and the other stuff is a sidelight that you will enjoy at some point. But he's been really a terrific player for us. Q. Jim, does having Torii Hunter and Victor Martinez, does that make it easier to manage if you have to do something with Miggy on a day‑to‑day basis? Do you feel you're better able to absorb a less than 100% Cabrera because those are two guys that you didn't have last year? JIM LEYLAND: Certainly Torii Hunter and Victor being healthy this year after missing the playoffs last year and having Torii makes us deeper. It doesn't guarantee one thing, but it does make us a little bit deeper. Like I say, these playoffs are always amazing to me because you go into the playoffs talking about a number one pitcher for both teams or a Moss or a Cabrera, whatever you want to talk about. And several times in postseason, playoff or be it the World Series, there is some little guy that's ended up being the MVP that nobody talked about in the first press conference. Mark Lemke, Placido Polanco comes to mind for me in 2006, so you never know. Q. David Eckstein comes to mind. Talk about Miguel running. What sort of affect does this have on him in the batter's box, I don't know if he was trying to mend this thing and that's why he was out of the lineup. JIM LEYLAND: That's a great question. It's a terrific question, to be honest with you, because, I think it's over now, but I think for a while it was tough for Miguel to use his lower half to hit, and most good hitters use the lower half and he uses it as good as anybody. I think it did hinder him for a while. But the last few games we played, that doesn't seem to be there anymore and he seems to be fine from that aspect. That's the one thing that I watched in Miami and he drove the ball really well in Miami, so I think he's over that part of it now. He is getting better, but he's nowhere near 100%. Q. Having former CY Young Winner, MVP, not pitch Game 1, how did that conversation go when you had to tell Justin, Hey, we want you Game 2 and Max Game 1. JIM LEYLAND: I met with my coaches, we discussed all this stuff, I can't lie, we discussed a little bit of it behind the scenes before we clinched because you have to be prepared. But we certainly didn't want to bring that out in the open because we only ended up winning by one game. But my pitching coaches, myself and all the coaches, we talked about it and we just felt this was the best way to go. If by chance something doesn't work right, your second day starter could pitch Game 5 on normal rest. The plan is as we speak today to pitch Max Scherzer Game 1 and Game 5, if there is a Game5. But the pitching coach, he told all the pitchers where he would fall and he was the one that was not on me, but talking to me a little bit about it. He said at some point, for their own benefit, the pitchers need to know where they're going to fall in, and we didn't really want to announce anything, not that we were trying to hide anything, but we hadn't clinched yet. And afterwards, we had to think about it and meet for a day or so. So finally I talked to my boss, Dave Dombrowski and said we would like to tell our pitchers, and Jeff Jones told them and it's been no issue whatsoever. Justin handled it beautifully. You couldn't handle it any better. I'm sure I'm just like Bob Melvin. We have got five pitchers that could start in this series and I think he does, too. That's just the way it goes. We're both going to use four. We both had to pick a starter and we did that. So that's really not an issue whatsoever. Q. You mentioned being more impressed with this year's A's team. In what ways do you see them being better than last year's team? JIM LEYLAND: Well, I just think it's a lot tougher. Believe me, I can tell you this firsthand. When I got here, there weren't many expectations, and as I've been here, the expectations have grown. I think the way they reacted to what they did last year, they could have come back and had a bad year, but they didn't. They were really good and they built on that and fed off that. They came back and met the Western Division opponents head on and duked it out with them and they won. I think that's the thing that impresses me the most. This is a very, very good club, a very tough club. You know, they play the game right, they're not really fancy, and neither are we. But they're just tough baseball players. Believe me when I tell you we have the utmost respect for them and hopefully they feel the same way about us. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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